State Department Renegs On Announcement
The U.S. State Department had announced in their Visa Bulletin for July that visas in most categories were “current”, as of July 2, 2007, meaning the individuals could proceed with their applications.
Read Visa Bulletin for July 2007.

On July 2, the date when the State Department was to begin processing the these applications, the State Department sent out an update stating that they would not respond to requests for employment based preference cases due to “sudden backlog reduction efforts by Citizenship and Immigration Services Offices.”
More update on July Visa Availability.

The announcement came with out warning for the many individuals who had rushed to prepare their applications relying on the State Department’s previous statements.
Administration Slams Door on Thousands of Legal Immigrants

USCIS Rises Fees
USCIS implemented a new fee structure effective July 30, 2007. (Download PDF document)

The new structure drastically increases fees for many petitions and in some cases the new fee is more than twice the previous cost. According to USCIS “the revenue from the new fee structure will lead to a 20 percent reduction in average application processing times by the end of fiscal year 2009.”
USCIS Sets Final Fee Schedule to Build an Immigration Service for the 21st Century (Download PDF document)

There are concerns, however, that the new fee structure could be prohibitively costly for some legal immigrants.
Statement of AILA on Proposed USCIS Fee Increase and the President’s Proposed FY 2005 Budget

Immigration Bill Stalls in Senate
A comprehensive immigration reform bill was setback by a 45 to 50 vote to end debate on the bill and bring it to the floor for a final vote. After the failed June 7th vote Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) pulled the bill from the floor. Reid, however, held out hope that an immigration bill may still be passed. “There’s no reason to be upset. I think that we have to look toward passing this bill,” Reid stated.
Press Release from American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)